NBD (New Bass... Disappeared?)

[Spectrum]

Has anyone ever had an item that was "irretrievably lost" in the mail?

I once ordered a CD and the USPS lost it. I got a replacement. Many weeks later, the original shipment showed up in my mailbox, looking like it got run over by a truck. The CD case was in one of those semi-rigid mailer envelopes and the plastic was all busted up, like the thing had falling sideways into a sorting machine or something.

Hopefully your bass gets found, and in better condition.

 

[GroovyBaby]

So I spent the last couple months driving around the tri-state area going to shops to try out a bunch of basses that aren't normally available in larger retail stores. I fell in love with an MTD 535 but decided I'd try to find one cheaper online. As luck would have it, I found one! It looks like this:

View attachment 4199812
The Reverb seller was incredibly nice and prompt with his shipping. Fast forward to now, the priority mail package is now over week late. I am pulling my hair out because when I requested USPS do an investigation for the "in-transit" package (it's been in-transit for 7 days) they replied saying the parcel is "irretrievably lost." Well ****. It is my understanding that packages can lose their labels in shipment and then be virtually unidentifiable within the sea of packages that float around distribution centers. Otherwise they fell off the truck or something (my nightmare). The worst part is that it's right here in Richmond, where I live (if I am to trust the online tracking– though I think Dominos has better tracking than USPS).

Has anyone ever had an item that was "irretrievably lost" in the mail? I am not losing hope. I don't know if they are actively looking for it or not... I have more research to do, calls to make. I am so disappointed in the US mail since I've never had an issue with them, and now that that I've literally spent the most money I've ever spent on one item, that item is lost.

Okay, rant over

USPS has been a mess with changes made by the Postmaster General and stuff is running way late! I sold a bass on here that took a month to get from Pennsylvania to Louisiana! Put in a trace and be patient. In all likelihood it will show up eventually.

 

[joebar]

I work for Canada Post-A week isn’t bad. Just wait a bit longer. It could have went to Denmark or something; it will be back soon.
Something as large as a guitar doesn’t go missing easily

 

[logdrum]

Happens. The most expensive one for me were brake pads for my mountain bike. Magura a German fancy pants carbon lever brake set - $62 for 2 pairs of pads. 6 months later after I got the refund it arrived. I brought non branded ones for $16

 

[johnson79]

Shipping times are REALLY BAD right now. It's across the board with USPS, UPS, FedEx, and LTL. I deal with this daily at work. Covid, bad weather, and poor management are all factors. I would be willing to bet it shows up at some point.

 

[chemical360]

So I spent the last couple months driving around the tri-state area going to shops to try out a bunch of basses that aren't normally available in larger retail stores. I fell in love with an MTD 535 but decided I'd try to find one cheaper online. As luck would have it, I found one! It looks like this:

View attachment 4199812
The Reverb seller was incredibly nice and prompt with his shipping. Fast forward to now, the priority mail package is now over week late. I am pulling my hair out because when I requested USPS do an investigation for the "in-transit" package (it's been in-transit for 7 days) they replied saying the parcel is "irretrievably lost." Well ****. It is my understanding that packages can lose their labels in shipment and then be virtually unidentifiable within the sea of packages that float around distribution centers. Otherwise they fell off the truck or something (my nightmare). The worst part is that it's right here in Richmond, where I live (if I am to trust the online tracking– though I think Dominos has better tracking than USPS).

Has anyone ever had an item that was "irretrievably lost" in the mail? I am not losing hope. I don't know if they are actively looking for it or not... I have more research to do, calls to make. I am so disappointed in the US mail since I've never had an issue with them, and now that that I've literally spent the most money I've ever spent on one item, that item is lost.

Okay, rant over

I would hang in there. I have been told recently that the USPS is so backed up, things are taking weeks longer than they should to arrive. Case in point, my wife ordered something and 3 weeks later, nothing. She called the seller who shipped out another one which arrived in 3 days. Then a week later, the original package showed up.

As frustrating as this is (I would be ticked myself waiting for a new bass to come) there is still hope.

 

[mellowgerman]

I've usually used USPS for shipping gear and it's always worked out so far... but then again, I haven't for a couple years, and I'm aware they've kind of been falling apart recently. What do you usually use? UPS? FedEx?

At this point, I avoid shipping basses and amps. Aside from prices sky-rocketing, I had an awful experience last year with FedEx, which was my go-to carrier for a long time. After this, I will never ship with them again. Here is the story, copied over from a previous post of mine:

Speaking from first hand experience, FedEx is a mess right now. I've used them almost exclusively for about 15years but after my last experience I will never use their services again. Long story (as) short (as possible), I sold a bass via TB classifieds, shipped it from here in FL to CA for a cost of $140. It took about 7 business days to make it to his city. All good and fine. However, before getting to the final destination it was rerouted by FedEx to some mystery 3rd party location where it scanned "undeliverable" and it started back toward FL! 12 calls to customer service later, every one of the customer service reps promised to send messages and make calls internally to reroute it to the original destination... never happened. 3 weeks after sending it out it arrived back at my house. Several more calls to FedEx and they legitimately told me that there's nothing they can do, as they had revoked any and all guarantees for refunds, credits, etc. because of the pandemic. So I'm out $140 for nothing and 3 weeks after I did the sale, the bass is back at my house in FL. Luckily it was a TB transaction and the buyer is a very patient, helpful guy. Re-sent the bass via UPS (another $190) and thankfully it arrived a week later.

I will also add that upon the bass showing up at my house again after the 3 weeks of FedEx transit chaos, I first refused to sign/accept it, worried that this would leave me with the bass and a loss of $140, through no fault of my own or the buyer's. I called their customer service department again and was assured that accepting shipment was the best course of action, to prevent any further loss or damage. The agent also said that I would just have to contact their revenue department after accepting the delivery and they would work on getting me either free shipping to the originally intended destination or a refund/credit of some sort. Upon doing this just as instructed, they told me there was nothing they could do since they had revoked any and all guarantees.

So shippers beware! Though UPS came through for me in the end, it was very expensive (I had expected maybe $100-110 tops for shipping based on years of shipping basses) and had I known all that nonsense would happen, I would have rather tried to sell it locally or just keep the bass. Definitely not worth it, though I'm glad the poor buyer finally ended up with his bass.

 

[MynameisMe]

I feel for you. I have complained about USPS but once our mail carrier got replaced it has been better.
Of course if it gets lost somewhere else all bets are off.
I know a few retired postal workers and it seems like they tried to get out of work most of the time.
Doesn't surprise me.

 

[MG Wolf]

I think it will eventually show up, I went thru something similar last November to January -- albeit with only a pedal bought on Reverb shipped USPS Priority Mail.

And this is a good reminder for me to NEVER use USPS to ship basses.

Holding out for a good outcome for you on this OP, please post some pics when it does finally present itself.

 

[BassGeekJack]

Bummer for sure but there is still hope.
The only close call that I ever had in selling/trading involved a Talkbass trade with a TB'er that was ... well lets just say "less than honerable" in the end. He's since been banned, but to the USPS side of the story. He was in Fairbanks Alaska and I was in Georgia. We worked a trade. My Skjold for his Zon. I payed almost $200 shipping my Skjold to Alaska, fully insured. He received it in 4 days. He shipped his Zon to me via USPS parcel ground, NO insurance, $26.00 shipping! Of course I didn't find this out until after he had shipped!
I won't provide all of the drama that occurred during the 3+ weeks that followed but after just over 3 weeks, with no updates other than "in transit" in the USPS system, the package tracking stated "Arrived at facility" in Atlanta GA! Up until then I had pretty much lost hope. Before the day was up though I was able to pick it up at my local post office and it arrived in perfect condition. Which was a Miracle considering how it was packaged (and in the Zon Access gig bag).

So don't lose hope yet.

No insurance?! Insane. Glad you got your Zon, those are fantastic basses.

 

[BassGeekJack]

I once ordered a CD and the USPS lost it. I got a replacement. Many weeks later, the original shipment showed up in my mailbox, looking like it got run over by a truck. The CD case was in one of those semi-rigid mailer envelopes and the plastic was all busted up, like the thing had falling sideways into a sorting machine or something.

Hopefully your bass gets found, and in better condition.

I'm confident it won't move around much in its fitted hard case... but then again, who knows what they're doing with it

 

[beatdatthang]

Shipping, especially through USPS, is ridiculously slow right now. I recently traded basses with another TBer. He used USPS for shipping, I used UPS. He got the bass in 4 days, it took over 2 weeks for me to get mine and the tracking updated on the second day to say “delayed” then never updated again. I started an investigation about a week after it said “delayed” and they couldn’t tell me anything other than it was “in the network somewhere”. You’d think that whole tracking number thing they’re supposed to scan would mean something, but for USPS at least, it doesn’t.

 

[logdrum]

Considering how much shipping happens in this country per capita, the shippers even at the time of COVID and what not, they still have 99.99 % reliability. Having lived in other countries, it is amazing how the whole system works.

Still not a good answer to the OP. You will get it.

 

[chemical360]

Considering how much shipping happens in this country per capita, the shippers even at the time of COVID and what not, they still have 99.99 % reliability. Having lived in other countries, it is amazing how the whole system works.

Still not a good answer to the OP. You will get it.

Where this is absolutely true, it doesn't soothe the sting of not getting a new instrument for weeks and drooling over the first time you pick it up and plug it in. I feel his pain, but you are correct. I myself am about to have an Ibanez BTB1905SM shipped and I am sweating and nervous that I won't see the thing for a month.

I believe his package will arrive and in good condition. It is probably sitting in a sorting facility waiting for someone to go "oh wait, this should have been put on a truck weeks ago. Hurry!"

 

[Ghastly]

I know it could happen with any carrier, but it always seems to be USPS that loses my packages. I hate them. Insurance is useless as they never pay out. Now I either use another carrier like DHL or drive myself!

 

[NortyFiner]

I routinely use USPS for small items like pedals, only had a problem once; that was a pedal sent to Canada that ended up way late due to a slow handoff at the border. Big items, I send via UPS.

 

[D.M.N.]

So I spent the last couple months driving around the tri-state area going to shops to try out a bunch of basses that aren't normally available in larger retail stores. I fell in love with an MTD 535 but decided I'd try to find one cheaper online. As luck would have it, I found one! It looks like this:

View attachment 4199812
The Reverb seller was incredibly nice and prompt with his shipping. Fast forward to now, the priority mail package is now over week late. I am pulling my hair out because when I requested USPS do an investigation for the "in-transit" package (it's been in-transit for 7 days) they replied saying the parcel is "irretrievably lost." Well ****. It is my understanding that packages can lose their labels in shipment and then be virtually unidentifiable within the sea of packages that float around distribution centers. Otherwise they fell off the truck or something (my nightmare). The worst part is that it's right here in Richmond, where I live (if I am to trust the online tracking– though I think Dominos has better tracking than USPS).

Has anyone ever had an item that was "irretrievably lost" in the mail? I am not losing hope. I don't know if they are actively looking for it or not... I have more research to do, calls to make. I am so disappointed in the US mail since I've never had an issue with them, and now that that I've literally spent the most money I've ever spent on one item, that item is lost.

Okay, rant over

I had a '69 Fender Tele bass shipped to me last year, and it went off the grid in New Jersey (or maybe it was Pittsburgh?) for over two weeks. Hadn't lost it's label or anything, they just said it went in to the sorting facility but hasn't been scanned since, no idea where it went. About 5 days later I get an update that it's at my local office, ready for pickup, somehow it never got scanned leaving the facility. I like and support the USPS, but they're drowning right now, and unfortunately don't have the resources to properly track and deliver lots of stuff on time. I really hope they can get some changes made from the top down and some better federal funding to help them out. I'm confident it'll show up, but it may be delayed.

As others have said though, I've had similar issues with both UPS and FedEx recently, all the systems are just slammed. The only shipper that's been fast and accurate is DHL, I've still been receiving my Tayda packages from Thailand within 4 days. I ordered parts this past Thursday and they were here Tuesday morning.

 

[Cave Puppy]

All the national delivery systems are experiencing difficulties. They have loads of vaccines to deliver. I'm ok with that. However - FEDEX - misdelivered two of my packages. One miraculously showed up the next day (it ended up a the depot when they said it was delivered and another was completely mis-delivered and stolen by the "recipient." I am having all fedex sent to me to a fedex office. UPS - usually pretty good: one package the was "delivered" wasn't but showed up at my door hours later. USPS - no qualms here and the way I prefer to get smaller packages, but yes, much later than expected with no tracking. They're all so busy.

 

[4stringfarley]

I have motorcycle parts that have been sitting in Ohio since mid December. Worst part is is that it's in the 80s out and I could be riding if I had them.

 

[D.M.N.]

Oh, I'll add, one odd thing I've increasingly been seeing with USPS in my area is my package will be marked "delivered", but no mail will have been dropped off, like one that said it was delivered at 5:34, while I was sitting eating dinner in the front room where the postman has to come up to the porch to drop the mail in the slot. It was then delivered the next day. Another was marked as delivered in the afternoon around 3:00 but then didn't actually get delivered until about 9:45 , almost hours later.